If you have any information that you would like to keep or refer to in the future please can you copy and paste the information to a format suitable for you to save or take screen shots of the questions and responses you are interested in.

Don’t forget you can still use the rest of the forums on theTes Community to post questions and get the advice, help and support you require from your peers for all your teaching needs.

Which Union if I DON'T want to strike

For various reasons, I don't want to strike next week. I am currently a membr of the NUT (in hindsight, probably not a good union to join if I'm not a striking kind of person, but it seemed like a good idea at the time...), so in my cowardly way I'm wondering if I can cancel my NUT membership and join another union before next week so I wouldn't be eligible to strike, and my colleagues can't get at me. Problem is, which union? As I work in an independent school I would quite like one that was supportive of teachers in this sector and had a decent cohort in its membership, but, although I've had a look at some websites, I'm not getting a clear picture.
Any ideas anyone?

For various reasons, I don't want to strike next week. I am currently a membr of the NUT (in hindsight, probably not a good union to join if I'm not a striking kind of person, but it seemed like a good idea at the time...), so in my cowardly way I'm wondering if I can cancel my NUT membership and join another union before next week so I wouldn't be eligible to strike, and my colleagues can't get at me. Problem is, which union? As I work in an independent school I would quite like one that was supportive of teachers in this sector and had a decent cohort in its membership, but, although I've had a look at some websites, I'm not getting a clear picture.
Any ideas anyone?

NASWUT isn't striking. Not sure I'd want to work somewhere where "colleagues get at you" as you put it. If that is truly the case just tell them your membership has lapsed and you haven't renewed it, why is it any of their business?

Voice is the only union that will never ask it's members to strike, they do accept teachers from independent schools, I emailed them over the weekend to check, as I am in ATL and also do not wish to strike, when I joined ATL back in 2000 it was a union that was considered very moderate and highly unlikely to ask it's members to strike, after all they had never done so - obviously this has now changed and I am considering switching to Voice because of this.

when I joined ATL back in 2000 it was a union that was considered very moderate and highly unlikely to ask it's members to strike, after all they had never done so

Click to expand...

It is a moderate union and this action is unprecedented, which might or should signal something to you.
If you join a union you should be prepared to consider to take action if they ask you to, otherwise don't join one.

I'm glad I'm not the only one in this position.
Luckily for me, our NUT and ATL members have decided not to strike this time, as it is the last day of term and would be really unfortunate for the U6 leavers, so it buys me time over the summer to really reflect on what my own position is. If by September I feel I can't support the strike then I will resign from the NUT and join Voice or NASUWT. But once I've had the time to reseach the proposals in full, and see what the result of next week;s strike is, it may be that I'm happy to remain in the NUT.
Time will tell...

I'm not 'happy' to opt out of strike action. After a great deal of thought and consideration, and taking into account factors which I am not going to discuss here, I am not altogether comfortable taking strike action at this time. As my second post says, I am glad that my school has decided not to participate in the strike this Thursday so it gives me the summer to weigh up my options. It may be that I decide that I should strike if another is called in the autumn, but at least I will have given it sufficient thought by then. SOmething that I haven't been able to do this time round. And yes, I am aware that ALT have never before advocated strike action by their members, and yes, I have considered why the situation is as it is right now.